Sabotage
by Kingsforcedvacation
Summary: Inspired by Ark by outerelf. Jazz is a Decepticon spy and Megatron decides it is time for the war to end.


"This war has gone on for long enough," Megatron told Soundwave.

"Agreed," came the spy's replied.

"Do you have any double agents in the ARK crew?"

"One."

Megatron smirked, "Then contact him and tell him the plan. This war ends today"

…

Jazz POV

I smirked as I finished hacking into the ARK's security system. Earlier in the day Soundwave had contacted me with new orders. Apparently, Megatron had finally gotten tired of this ongoing war _(took him long enough)_ and had made a plan with Soundwave to accomplish his goal once and for all.

The orders I was given were simple to accomplish. First I had to get rid of the majority of the camera's. That was easy enough, one passing comment and the twins were off wreaking havoc around the ARK, disabling cameras left and right. It even had the added bonus of setting off Red Alert's glitch making Ratchet have to sedate him. Just like that, the bot most likely to hinder the plan was out of commission for a few hours.

Next I needed to prevent the Dinobots from being able to join the fight. Ever since they had been created and revealed to be sentient I began building up their trust in me, because of that none of them had even thought to check for the sedative I had placed in their energon. A few minutes later and they were out like a light, giving me plenty of time to disable their motor and vocal control.

Then I hacked the door to the armory and uploaded a program that sealed the doors fifteen minutes after the attack alarm rang. This prevented any Autobots at the base from being able to access any weapons except for those they carried. After I had thought about it a bit I did the same to Ironhide's room and Wheeljack's lab, who knew how many weapons or dangerous experiments they had stashed in there.

Finally I needed to hack into the security system and weaken it enough for the Decepticons to be able to sneak in without being noticed. Originally this would have been the hardest part. Red Alert was good at his job despite, or maybe because of, his paranoia. I'm a good hacker, I need to be for a job like mine, but it took a lot of time and effort to make small changes to the security system without him finding it. But, with Red Alert out of the picture, it was child's play to do what needed to be done. I looped the outside cameras, disabled the proximity alarm, uploaded a virus into Teletran 1 that was set to activate at the same time the doors to the armory locked, and disabled the comm system so no one can warn the others.

_/Finished/_ I reported.

After that I left to get some energon from the cafeteria before the alarm went off. I waved to people and greeted them as I passed by. I was almost sad that my mission was almost complete and that the bots around me would most likely be executed. After spending so much time around them I had grown to respect and even like some of them. Oh well, I chose my side long ago and it wasn't with them.

"Hey Jazz," Bumblebee greeted as I sat down with my cup of energon.

"Hey Bee," I replied with a smile.

He began to chatter aimlessly about random things he had learned about Earth. I listened with an indulgent smile as I scanned the cafeteria. It was rather packed, as usual at this time of day. Eventually my gaze landed on Cliffjumper who was glaring at Bumblebee.

"_Probably accusing him of being a spy,"_ I thought wryly.

Cliffjumper was one of the few I don't like, but that I had purposely picked to be on the ARK. He had a reputation of accusing people he didn't like of things whether they did it or not. His favorite accusation is to accuse people of being a Decepticon spy. I have always found it funny that he has accused almost everyone of being a spy, except for the one Decepticon spy on the ARK.

The alarm brought me out of my thoughts. Everyone began rushing to their stations, and ten minutes later everyone who was fighting this time was lined up in front of the ARK. I inspected the line and was happy to note Wheeljack was there. I had been worried he might get locked in his lab if he stayed behind, not that he would have noticed. Along with Wheeljack was Mirage, Ironhide, Prowl, the twins, Bumblebee, and, of course, Optimus Prime.

"Transform and rollout," Optimus ordered.

It would take us thirty minutes to get to our destination, five to ten minutes for them to realize the alarm was fake, one to two minutes to realize they can't contact the base, and at least twenty-three minutes to get back in a rush. By then it will be too late.

One hour later we were sneaking into the ARK. Or we would have been if I hadn't already informed Soundwave that we had arrived.

"It could just be that the comms are malfunctioning," Bee said optimistically as we crept through a hallway.

"Possibly," Optimus agreed, "but it is better to be sure."

No one said another word as we walked into the command center. The room was completely dark except for some of the buttons on the control panels. Optimus, Wheeljack and I walked up to the panels as the others guarded our back incase of an attack, not that it did much good. Just as we began to type the lights were turned on temporarily blinding us.

"Good for you to join us," Megatron said.

We turned around and, as our vision returned, we saw that we were surrounded by Decepticons.

"Your friends were getting lonely," Megatron mocked.

"What have you done to my crew?" Optimus demanded, standing tall despite all of the weapons pointed at him.

"They are alive, if that's what you're asking, but that can be changed if you try to resist."

Optimus hesitated for a minute before ordering us to stand down. His order didn't come as a surprise. Optimus Prime is a good leader who cares about his soldiers, of course that made him predictable. He would never attack if there were hostages.

Soundwave had each of us checked as thoroughly as possible for hidden weapons and other items then put us all in handcuffs and led us to the brig. They took care to chained each of us securely to the wall then left. The rest of the Autobots were in the cell facing us, all in a similar position.

"Is everyone okay?" Optimus called.

"We're fine," Came Ratchets' gruff response. "Just a few scrapes and dings, and Red Alert is still groggy from the sedative."

_/They also forgot to disable our comms/ _Ratchet continued silently. _/We've been trying to think of a way to escape but so far we've got nothing/_

_/Did any of you manage to sneak something past Soundwave?/ _I asked.

_/No/_

_/We can still think of something/ _Bumblebee said. _/There's no guards so that must mean that they are watching us through the cameras./_

_/Didn't the twins mess up all of the cameras?/ _Mirage sked

_/We didn't get to the brig cameras/ _Sunstreaker said with a sigh.

_/So what else/ _Optimus prompted.

_/If I could get out of these cuffs I might be able to hack the lock with some spare wire?/_ Wheeljack offered uncertainty.

_/Which would take both time and tools we don't have, and it would be right in front of the cameras/ _Preceptor said with a sigh.

I listened as the tossed ideas around, that was why I was still here after all, to see if they had any means of escape.

_/These cells have been made to keep Sideswipe and Sunstreaker in, if they couldn't figure out how to escape with all the time and resources they had, I'm afraid our chances of escaping is zero/ _Prowl finally said.

_/So we're stuck, and the only way we're getting out of here is if someone comes and saves us/ _Inferno asked.

_/I'm afraid __s__o/ _Optimus said. _/Do not despair, we have many allies. The femmes or another Autobot may come to our aid./_

I gave a small smile at that, Optimus always had to be optimistic.

_/Soundwave, their not going anywhere without help/ _I reported.

Two Decepticons came in a few minutes later and opened the door to our cell. They began to unchain me from the wall.

"What are you doing!"

"Jazz!"

"No!"

"Stop!"

"Leave him be, take me instead," Optimus ordered.

The concern they were showing was sweet. The Decepticons ignored all of the protests and each of them grabbed one of my arms.

"I'll be fine, don't worry about me," I said with a smile as I was led away.

The Decepticons let go of me after we left the brig. They led me to Prowls' former office where Soundwave had taken up residence. He waved my escorts away leaving us alone in the room. I gave my report of everything I had learned.

"You assignment has been completed," Soundwave said after I had finished and he had sent the information off.

I nodded, "It's only a matter of time before they find out what happened. They're smart mechs after all."

I'd like to tell them why I did it, to be honest. I have no regrets for my part in ending the war but I would still like them to know why.

"Permission granted," Soundwave said in his usual monotone voice.

I smiled at him, "Thank you."

I meant it for more than just this. Soundwave had done a lot for me, so much more than any had before. It was him who convinced me to join the Decepticons, who trained me, who gave me a chance, who saved my life. I owe him everything.

Soundwave walked over to me and stood in front of me. Slowly he reached up and removed my visor, the very visor he had given me, and looked right into my eyes. It was like he could see through every mask I had placed up and look right into my very core, and for all I knew he could. I was so caught up in the feeling that I didn't register that he had retracted his battle mask, at least I didn't until he kissed me.

I froze in shock. I had had a crush on Soundwave for centuries. At first it stemmed from gratitude for all he did for me, it grew from there. I found it was hard not to like him, he had everything I could ask for in a mech. He was smart, talented, strong, caring, handsome, and, despite what many think, he had a wicked sense of humor. So of course I had fantasized about him kissing me _(I had fantasized about more than that), _but I had never thought anything would come from it.

I shook off my shock and kissed him back. It was nothing short of electrifying, literally. It seemed to last for an eternity _(not long enough) _before he pulled back and rested his head against mine, both of our vents running on high to get rid of the excess heat.

"Conclusion: It will take time for the Autobots to figure it out," Soundwave muttered.

"Yeah," I agreed.

"Query: Any objections to staying-" I cut him off with a kiss.

…

No ones POV

"What exactly happened here?" Optimus asked to try and keep everyones' mind off Jazz and what could be happening to him.

"We never saw them coming," Ratchet said. "They somehow managed to sneak in and started to pick us off one by one. By the time anyone realized something was wrong half of us had already been captured."

"We tried to call for help but the communications weren't working," Inferno said. "Soundwave must have done something to them."

"We tried to get weapons from the Armory but it was sealed shut. No matter what I did it wouldn't open. That was actually how I got captured, I was so busy trying to open the door I never even saw the Decepticons creeping up behind. The next thing I knew I was here in this cell chained up. It was really weird to wake up in the cell of your own base you know," Bluestreak said so fast that he had to repeat it twice.

"The same thing happened to Ironhides' room," Hound said.

"My room? Why were you trying to get into my room?" Ironhide growled.

"It was closer than the armory," Hound explained. "And we all know you're room could double as an armory."

Ironhide shrugged at that, "Can never have too many guns."

"It was the same with Wheeljacks' lab. I had gone there to find some of his inventions so I could throw it at any con that tried to get me. With Wheeljacks' luck there was a 90% chance it would have exploded," Preceptor said.

"So our main stashes of weapons were sealed off?" Bumblebee asked. "How did they manage that?"

"That's not all," Preceptor said, dragging the attention back to him. "After I couldn't get into Wheeljack's lab I went to find the Dinobots. When I found them, they were all out cold. At first I thought that the Decepticons had gone after them first, but there wasn't a scratch on them. It looked almost like they were given a sedative. Sadly before I could look closer I was captured."

"Is anyone else starting to get suspicious?" Sideswipe asked.

"What about the perimeter sensors?" Red Alert asked as he finally got over the sedative. "They should have gone off even if the Decepticons were invisible. I was sure to fine tune them after Megatron snuck in using an invisible spray."

"They never went off," Inferno said.

"Maybe the Decepticons hacked it?" Prowl suggested.

"Impossible," Red Alert said with a shake of his head. "The only way it could have been disabled was if the person had been inside the ARK, even then they would have had to have been skilled in computer programing if they managed to hack it without setting off my alarms."

Everyone was silent for a few minutes. No one wanted to think about what it meant. No one wanted to think about the fact that the only way it could have been done is if it had been done by one of them. Someone had betrayed them.

"Let's not jump to any conclusions just yet. What else happened?" Optimus asked.

"I was in the security room when I first noticed something was wrong," Smokescreen spoke up. "I admit I had zoned out as I stared at one of the outside cameras. I'm not entirely sure when but eventually I noticed that the same frog kept hopping across the screen."

"The cameras had been looped," Red Alert realized.

"That's the conclusion I came to. I tried to comm the others but the comms weren't working. I went looking for everyone else but I only managed to find Inferno before we ran into some Decepticons. We put up a fight but there were too many of them," Smokescreen finished.

Everyone thought for a moment.

"You know, it was really unlucky for us that they attacked on the same day that the twins tried to take out all of the cameras," Bumblebee said.

Red Alert froze as something occurred to him, "What if it wasn't luck? We know we have a spy in our ranks, there is no other way the Decepticons could have snuck in, so what if they planned it?"

"You can't be accusing the twins of being Decepticon spies, can you?" Smokescreen asked.

"It wasn't us!" The twins protested.

"No it wasn't them, they don't have the coding skills required to take down the perimeter sensors, but they can be easily manipulated into doing things when it involves mischief. So tell me Sunstreaker Sideswipe why did you mess with my cameras?" Red Alert asked, staring at them with piercing optics.

"What?! Were not easily manipulated," Sunstreaker exclaimed.

"Yeah! We decided to mess with your cameras because of a comment… Jazz... Made," Sideswipe trailed off in horror.

Everyone glanced at the spot the saboteur had previously been chained.

"Jazz?" Prowel asked with wide optics.

"That doesn't mean anything! This isn't the first time the Twins have done something because of something Jazz said! It could have just been bad timing," Bumblebee defended.

"But he does have the skills to take down the perimeter alarms, loop the cameras, short the comms, and lock the armory doors," Red Alert pointed out.

"But what about the Dinobots?" Mirage asked. "He could not have overpowered them."

"He wouldn't have needed to," Wheeljack said like it physically pained him to admit it. "Besides me and Ratchet, Jazz is the bot they trust the most. He was always stopping by to visit them, bring them energon, spar, or just sit next to them. You said they looked like they had been sedated? They would have accepted anything from Jazz, even drugged energon."

"So he could have done it?" Cliffjumper asked.

"He is one of the few that could have," Optimus said gravely.

"But why?" Ratchet asked. "And when did he change sides?"

"Who said I ever changed sides?"

Everyone jumped, some even yelping in surprise at the unexpected voice. Everyone looked like a kid caught red handed doing something they shouldn't have.

"_He came back for us!"_ Some thought. "_How could we ever have doubted him?"_

That is until they took a closer look. Jazz was leaning against one of the empty cells casually. He looked the exact same as when he had been dragged out of the brig, except for the red visor.

"You-you really betrayed us," Prowl said devistatedly, barely keeping himself from crashing.

"Is it really betrayal when I was never on your side to begin with?" Jazz asked lightly.

That was one possibility no one had thought of.

"You hate the Decepticons! They destroyed your city!" Bumblebee cried.

"No, that was just a cover story."

"So the other survivors?" Prowl asked.

"Spies," Jazz confirmed.

"Why? Why did you join the Decepticons?" Optimus asked trying his best to ignore the betrayal he was feeling.

"Why? That is the question isn't it?" Jazz said with a sharp smile. "Do you know what I was before the war began?"

Everyone shook their head.

"I was a pleasurebot," Jazz said bitterly. "It was the only job that would hire me."

Everyone gasped in shock.

"Why so surprised? It was common for people in the lower classes to sell themselves to survive?" Jazz sneered.

"The lower class couldn't have been that bad off," Mirage said with wide optics.

"Because the council had said so, right?" Jazz laughed. "The Decepticons didn't just rise up out of nothing and start blowing smoke about the lower classes situation. The situation was bad. I wasn't as bad off as other but I still stood on the corners every night hoping that I could make enough to buy enough energon to survive for the next week."

"A week?" Ratchet interrupted. "A whole cube should last you for almost a month."

"Sure, if you could afford a whole cube and had enough energon in your system," Jazz laughed at Ratchets' horrified look. "I watched the war progress on a street corner. I watched as prices rose and supplies dropped on the streets, while the High Class wanted for nothing. I watched as the treatment of the lower class worsened with every cycle."

Some of the Autobots couldn't look Jazz in the optics. They had once upon a time believed the way the lower class was treated was acceptable, warranted even. The war had opened their optics to many things that had been wrong with the previous system.

"I listened to some of Megatrons' speeches. I'm sure some of you have heard one or two, but for those of you who didn't, there was a reason so many joined their side and that was it. The speeches were good, more importantly they were right. They knew what they were talking about, and everyone understood what the Decepticons fought for because they lived through it everyday."

"And that was what convinced you to join the decepticons," Bumblebee guessed.

"No," Jazz said to the surprise of the others. "It was Soundwave who convinced me. It was later in the war and people were getting angry. The Higher Classes took that anger out on the lower classes, in their mind it was just putting us in our place before we rebelled as well. I was one of the mechs on the receiving end of their anger. I had been walking home when a couple of mechs ambushed me. They raped me and were going to beat me to death afterwards."

Several Autobots growled in anger. Others were more worried about the emotionless voice Jazz was using to tell this part of the story.

"The mechs had already succeeded in beating me half to death when Soundwave found us. I never did figure out why he was there nor why he helped me, but he fought the bots off then nursed me back to health. He also told me about the Decepticons, about why they fight, about why he fought. He said he saw something in me and asked if I would be willing to join. I agreed to join, not only because of my situation and what had happened, but also to repay Soundwave. After that he took me under his wing and taught me how to be a spy, and when I was sent on my mission he gave me my visor."

No one was expecting that Jazz' famous visor was a gift from Soundwave.

"But still after you joined us you must have seen we weren't like the mechs who attacked you," Mirage said.

"I did. Some of you were so much better than them," Jazz said with a soft smile before it turned cold, "but most of you were worse."

"Worse?" Bumblebee asked.

"Much worse. If you think the Decepticons were the cruel and ruthless ones in this war you'd be wrong. Sure the Decepticons have done some bad things but the war crimes the Autobots committed make them look like saints."

"You can't be serious," Smokescreen pleaded.

"It's true," Jazz confirmed. "It has always amazed me that all of the decent Autobots I have met ended up on the ARK, especially since I had a hand in creating the crew list, or maybe it's because of that."

"What do you mean by that?" Prowl asked suspiciously.

"The ARK was never supposed to leave Cybertron."

"You're the one who tipped off the cons!" Ironhide yelled.

"I was," Jazz agreed with a nod. "And to make sure that this ships' mission never succeeded I recommended the craziest bots I knew to be part of the crew."

"Why?" Ironhide asked.

"Because if anyone else was leading this team it would have fallen apart! We have a pyromaniac fire truck, an explosive inventor, the twins, and the list goes on."

"Now that I think about it all of these personalities together would look like a bomb waiting to explode," Optimus agreed.

"Anyway you wanted to know why I joined the Decepticons? There you have it. I like you lot so I can honestly tell you I hope you work something out with Megatron. It would be a shame to lose you."

Jazz gave them one last smile before leaving the bots to their fate, whatever it may be.


End file.
